37 Rising Stars

One story that will continuously amaze me is that of the tragic death of Dan Snyder and how his family (mainly his parents) responded to it. If you're completely unfamiliar with the background, the Thrashers have a website still up that provides some links about the unfortunate events that surround the story of Dan Snyder. But the Snyders are just incredible individuals who continue to push forward in life in the name of their departed son.

I've always heard about the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation, but I never could seem to come up with anything concrete... just donations. Surely there was more to it than just donating. And, of course, as all Thrashers fans are aware of, there were the "37" patches that were on the Thrashers jerseys immediately following his death.



While it still escapes me why I never attempted to donate to the group and secure one of these patches, I really regret it now. But maybe I have my chance now.

You see, the Snyders are travelling across North America, visiting every NHL arena and telling their story and sharing their experiences with anyone who wants to hear and/or appreciates such things. Going RV-style, the Snyders have finally set up a website for the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation and are also documenting their journey from one city to the next through blog posts and photos. All information about the Foundation, the Snyders' cause (like it could even be questioned at this point), and their ventures can be found at 37 Rising Stars.

It looks like the Snyders will be making three stops in Atlanta this season, and they listed below:

Thursday, 21 December - vs. Pittsburgh
Tuesday, 6 February - vs. Buffalo
Saturday, 7 April - vs. Tampa Bay

I know I'll be there, seeking them out to tell them how amazing they are as people and parents and to thank them for the support that they continuously display for the Atlanta community.

Deck the halls with... Coachella?

First things first (and this really cannot go without saying) - Coachella 2007 will be a three-day affair in the desert.



I mean, really? Enough said? By clicking on the lame-o teaser poster, you are brought to an article in Palm Springs' The Desert Sun newspaper about the announcement. Also, two-thirds of the line-up is committed? Whaaaaat? C'mon, who's gonna be the tool over at Goldenvoice that breaks into the safe and take a super-cool cameraphone capture of some of it? Rumors are already circulating that Prince (uh, yes?), Radiohead (oh, yes!), and The Smashing Pumpkins (YEESSSSSS.) are the three headliners, but who doesn't love Coachella rumors, right? Let's see how much these babies get blown out of proportion this year. We all remember 2006. It's just funny that when you google "coachella 2006" in google images, you see a fake poster more than anything else. Gotta heart it, I swear. Just stay tuned to this place because there are two things I really live for out of life - hockey and Coachella. What I might lack in hockey, I certainly have in being on top of stuff with Coach... and maybe vice versa.

Also, alpharuin is reporting a new Explosions in the Sky record in February. Time to get my instrumental post-rock (uhhh...) on, and stat!

And all music stuffs aside, while trying to decipher the Thrashers/Capitals game on 680 The Fan tonight, I could SWEAR I heard something about a trade between San Jose and Phoenix that would've been amazing - Sharks' goalie Evgeni Nabokov for Yotes' d-man Ed Jovanovski. Other than that bit of warbling I thought I could make sense out of, I haven't seen ANYTHING on that anywhere. I guess I was caught in some sort of weird fourth-dimensional hole in the Fayette/Coweta boundaries. Whatever.

What made that news worthwhile for me is that I have Jovo on my fantasy team (POLSKA KIELBASA) and moving him to San Jose would do wonders for the guy and for the Sharks' squad. Nabby's value would dip a bit in PHX, but he would remain a top goaltender in the west. But to know that Jovo would be a fixture on the blueline of the Sharks would be an amazing thing... all I'd say is that Anaheim better duck and cover... ugh, pun intended. Lame.

Le Thrash aren't doing so hot right now (well, presently, they're holding a 3-2 lead over Le Craps after two) with four straight losses and not much representation from the team. Playing behind in most of the games, you can't expect to win even half of those. Even though the Thrash are quite the resilient bunch of mates, they can't keep coming back from such deficits. The Dallas game from Saturday was just terrible to watch, even though the Thrash did keep in it. Kari's slack performance could've been the kicker, but going up against a Western conference stronghold was a good test for the playoff-caliber Thrash and they failed. Dallas held up for the entire game and you expect teams with that much skill and talent to do such. Pre-season speculations about the Thrashers living and dying on the back of Kari Lehtonen are appearing as such. There is definitely a positive correlation with Kari's nightly performance and the success of the Thrash. It's good to know that Moose is reliable enough to step up when Kari falls a little short. And that's to be expected with someone as young as Lehts. With all of the early pressure on the guy, he had to come back to earth eventually. Hopefully this is his grounding time and that things will get sorted out in the short-run.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and a safe holiday weekend!

Thrashers/Islanders pics, finally!

So when I mentioned that I'd post pics from my trip up north, I guess that meant I lovingly forgot to put 'em up here. Whatever. Those days of forgetting are over. Click on the pic for seven more, all hosted on my flickr site.

Fixation Focus: AA Bondy

You see, this blog doesn't entirely apply to hockey. And I'm OK with that... I just hope that you'll be too... whatevs. Either way, every once in a while I do these "Fixation Focus" write-ups. As a graduate with a psychology degree, I assume you can see where I'm coming from. In the event that you're psychologically inept, here's some insight - "Fixation Focus" tends to spotlight something (mainly from the music industry, it seems) that I'm either currently infatuated with (as was the case with the Lily Allen blurb I spat out a while ago) or what you should really pay attention to. Or both. I guess I leave that up to you, but these are things that I feel are worth merit and the time to research into if you are unfamiliar with them already.

All that aside, I came across this bit of information just a few minutes ago:

DECEMBER 8:
AA BONDY / DUQUETTE JOHNSTON / THE FELICE BROTHERS
BOTTLETREE, BIRMINGHAM, AL

The first name on the bill is AA Bondy, and that's the entire point of this post. AA Bondy is the pseudonym/alias/etc. of Scott Bondy, formerly of Verbena.



In case you don't know me, you might not know of Verbena. They were this, well, not-too-revolutionary band from Alabama, but what they did knocked me off my feet. They dabbled in boy-girl indie pop early on, going in more of a eff-the-world rock direction, and ended on a seemingly-high note with some nicely-crafted straight-forward rock. Like I said, nothing about this sounds life-altering, but they played the part so well. They lasted for about seven years, I'd say, and they gave it all they could. When things folded a few years ago (I think in either late '03 or '04), each member went their separate ways. And while I haven't heard much from bassist Nick Davidson, Bondy and drummer Les Nuby have been busy posting some of their own tunes on their respective myspace accounts. While finding the right bandmates to accurately portray his songs, Les still continues to just record and let the future dictate what happens next. Scott has taken a more active approach, actually performing shows and really putting himself out there. I've heard of Scott playing gigs in New York and in the Los Angeles area, never anywhere near the south. So I'm quite pleased that I'll be able to take in more of his solo material and see what happens from my experience with that.

Speaking about his solo material, it's really good. If you like nice, introspective songwriting with a bit of a lazy tongue and some spiritual imagery to coincide with simple guitar strumming, then this stuff should be right up your alley. Once again, his songs aren't ground-breaking, but they capture the mood perfectly. The pairing of his guitar playing with his voice is so appropriate. You'll find moments during these songs wishing you were swinging on your front porch during a steady rainstorm. And while that kind of feeling doesn't come over me that readily, it's good to know that it exists within my frame of mind.

So if you have the time, I strongly encourage you to check out AA Bondy's material over at his myspace. "american hearts" is just great stuff.

Also on the bill is Duquette Johnston, who I knew all along as Daniel Johnston, original bassist in Verbena. Should be good to see him there, too. His material is more along the lines of lazy Alabama porch rock. If you don't get the imagery, you don't get the south.

AA Bondy / Duquette Johnston / The Felice Brothers @ the Bottletree Cafe, Birmingham, AL - Friday, December 8 @ 9PM

Yeah, I'm excited.

Dirty, dirty rags

Tough loss tonite to the Rags, but I guess I could say that they deserve it. The Thrash just looked off this evening, despite the fact that they were playing their hearts out. I loved the physicality of the game, and definitely loved the Exelby/Hollweg duel... but would've loved a more bloody affair with Hollweg being taken off by a stretcher, but you can't have everything, right? Sad to see Kari not ever get himself settled. Between playing the puck in the corners once to nearly taking out Vishnevski, Kari couldn't find his footing and one puck after another went by him. How's that for coming back after a few games off, only proving yourself with a great "relief" performance during the Ottawa game Wednesday? We all have off nites - I mean, hell, DiPietro had a terrible nite against Le Thrash on the Isle a week ago - it just sucks that stuff like this happens to your own magical team, especially in front of a packed-out crowd.

It was also hard to get a good assessment of the game from my TVs only because apparently SportSouth is completely whitewashed on my screens... but elsewhere it doesn't seem to be. Awkward. Hard to follow the puck... or the opposition, in white jerseys... when you really can't control the brightness/contrast on your own television. Every other channel was fine, just not that one... weird.

Tonite was also a slaying against me on the fantasy front. The guy I'm matched up against has Jagr, Michael Nylander, and Martin Straka. Check out these stats:



At least there's no game-winner in there, but you really can't beat the contributions of those three tonite.

As I mentioned earlier (well, in an earlier post), I had some absolutely killer seats for the Ottawa game on Wednesday. You know, when you get emails from the Thrashers/Atlanta Spirit about ticket deals that are "less than 50% off all sections", you jump all over that. I figured the tickets I purchased were gonna be like the free ones I scored by writing 200 words (best price ever, by-the-way)... and those were behind the Thrashers net (attack... once?)... and were probably row J. Basically, not too bad. And when I got these tickets, all I knew was that I purchased lower bowl seats. No section, now row - nothing. But when I picked 'em up at will call, my mouth dropped when I found out they were row D in section 117... for 25$. Best seats for an amazing game.

I don't feel bad for Heatley getting booed and I don't care too much if others do it either. It could/should be a lot worse in other hockey environments. So considering this was my first Ottawa/Atlanta game since the whole TRADE TRADE TRADE last season, I didn't know what to expect. Well, seemingly every time he touched the puck (or even thought about it, actually), Heatley was treated with some BOOs. For a second I thought Hedberg was doing something monumental and that there was a lot of MOOSE going around the arena... whatever.

Kozlov's hatter was a sight to see and makes me question bringing a hat to the next game I go to, or the next succession of games, that is. And the great plays by Kari made the difference as the game was won by goaltending and perseverence. Glad to see a team that should be rather powerful (but with weak dudes between the pipes) go down to Le Thrash. Slater had a few great opportunities against Gerbs, and eventually he'll break through. And the game-tying goal from Kovy just blew my mind. How he continues (or anyone, for that matter) to just bypass other defensemen, breeze by everyone, somehow still have control, and let loose a nasty slapper and put it into the back of the net just floors me. I figured it was just a shot on goal... but either he knew exactly what he was doing (possible) or it was Thrashers luck (eh, perhaps). But when he tied it up, the place went nuts and I couldn't stop yelling... until my head felt like it was about to explode.

Yeah, it was an amazing game.

Next game is against the Tampa Bay (Threat of) Lightning. I haven't seen Marc Denis in net for them lately (I know this because he's on my fantasy team) and I'm wondering what the deal with that is. There's definitely trouble in HOCKEYBAY USA (ugh) with the sporadic scoring from St. Louis and the absent Brad Richards. We all know Lecavalier can produce big, and it appears that MSL has been on a hot streak, but I don't see it riding for much longer. I just wonder what he'll do when he gets pushed outta town to make room for the cap... thanks, Brad Richards. Wait - like I care!

Should be an interesting road game for the Thrash and then after that is time to rest AND to give Buffalo and/or Anaheim time to catch up to the Thrash in terms of games played. I just haven't felt that proud calling the Thrashers the "best team in the league" (in terms of points) when they have three more games played than both of those teams. When the schedules even up and there's still some kind of race for the top, then I can justify it. Not now though. Especially when you see teams like Buffalo pull out victories like they did tonite at home against Florida in OT. (:19 seconds into it and the Slugs pull it out? Ridiculous.)

Long Island pictures coming up shortly... or tomorrow. Yep yep yep!

and we have ourselves a title, it seems

Yeah, welcome to WE WANT DUNHAM!... finally.

Hockeyphiles, please stand up!

Yeah, I think it's time to come clean with my love for hockey. Do I ever try to hide it? Not so much, but I just want to make a public statement admitting my passion and drive for the sport. Does this actually correllate to the current skyrocketing success of the Atlanta Thrashers? Hmm... could we be on to something here?!

Ever since I came into contact with hockey, I loved it. I believe my first game was back in December 1991, when the Quebec Nordiques came to visit the New York Islanders. My dad got us amazing seats that seemed closer than I've ever been to any Mets game (my only frame of reference at that point)... tickets that you would only have if you got them for hella cheap or for free in the present. I wish there were records of games that far in the past, because I could swear that the Isles won that game and it also featured a hat trick from Derek King... I could be wrong.

Over the years, I attended a few more games at the Coliseum and grew to love the game more. I started collecting hockey cards, watching games on TV. What really threw me over the edge is playoff hockey. After sitting in the cheap seats for the Isles' run against the Pittsburgh Penguins in '93, I knew what it was like to be a hockey fan, not just a body in a seat. It was an incredible experience... and I'm fairly certain that was the last time I was at the Coliseum for a hockey game. Following that run, the Islanders became a joke and didn't produce at all. Mismanagement led to players being shipped around the league and allowed some amazing draft picks go elsewhere (do the names Zdeno Chara, Roberto Luongo, and Todd Bertuzzi ring a bell?). Their competitve absence on the Island led to my ambivalence in hockey... and other things dominated the time for me (high school, music, etc.).

When I moved to Georgia in 2000, I somehow took my love for hockey with me and greatfully never lost it. When the Isles made a push forward in '02 against the miserable Toronto Maple Leaves, something inside me clicked and I became absorbed in the sport again... and took a liking (and subsequent love) for the Atlanta Thrashers.

With that long story aside, last weekend I finally made my return to Long Island, home for my first 18 years. Granted, I haven't returned to town in nearly two years, but the bigger deal for me was coming back to the Coliseum... and this time not an Islanders fan. When I found out that I could arrange a trip, I planned to do it earlier in the year - sometime in late September or October would be great. That never worked out, but then I came across the hockey calendar and found that the Thrashers were making a northern stop on the Island during the first weekend in November. I knew my destiny at that point.

Never before have I been a fan of a visiting team... a full-on fan. Of course, in my early years as a Thrashers fan, my heart was torn between whether I'd give my support to the opposing Islanders or the Thrash, but I would never go to the extent of wearing an Islanders jersey to an Atlanta game. Over the years, it got easier to get in the Thrashers' corner and put off the Isles. But this matchup was of a different level. I couldn't just wear anything and go Thrash-crazy. So I opted to show the support and not only wear my Blueland jersey but also my Thrashers scarf for my arrival to the venue.

The Coliseum is one of the oldest hockey arenas in all of the NHL and it has a ton of heritage to go along with it. You walk in and you can't help seeing the championship banners and retired numbers (and bow-tie? Awkward...) hanging from the rafters. Once you see that, you know what this place, these fans have witnessed and experienced over the years. And it's been said that the Coliseum can either be the best arena in the league in terms of atmosphere (when full) or the worst (when lacking in fans) and I completely agree. Maybe it was because of the amazing seats we scored (much thanks to David for those!), but we lucked out that night and got a decent crowd, and everyone was rockin' there and it was loud as anything. Our seats were row G behind DiPietro's left side... so to be on an attack-twice side of an Atlanta game again, I couldn't ask for anything more!

We got there a little late and missed Vigier's opening goal, but once we got to our seats, the goals still kept on coming. Blunders from D.P. (lame chant, by-the-way) resulted in a snoozer of a goal from Hossa and D.P.'s inability to recognize where the puck was ended up in another goal by way of Brad Larsen/Bobby Holik. A 3-0 lead, still in the first period, resulted in chants that made Atlanta fans, well... perplexed.

"WE WANT DUNHAM! WE WANT DUNHAM!"

I couldn't help my laughter and immediately started in on the yelling. After his horrendous play last season, no Thrashers fan would ever dream of saying such a thing in a game when he is your goalie on the bench. It blew my mind. D.P. never got pulled, and the heckling ensued. Whenever he'd make a routine save or handle the puck, he'd get such a rousing applause... you know, because he was actually doing his job, but jeopardizing the game for the Isles. Hilarious! If Kari were ever having a bad game, no one would ever start a "MOOSE MOOSE MOOSE!" and plead that our franchise goaltender be pulled. It just wouldn't happen. So it still amazes me that people think that booing Dany Heatley when he comes to town is a little far-fetched. In any other hockey environment, it would be a lot worse, and I witnessed that on Long Island on Saturday.

The remainder of the game was more of the same. A Steve McCarthy power-play goal in the second sealed the deal and it wasn't hard to fend off any kind of weak rush the Islanders put forth. Moose held down the fort and le Thrash persevered and left the Coliseum with a 4-1 Atlanta victory... and made this Thrashers fan ecstatic.

There were other aspects of the game/environment that just made the travelling experience wonderful. It was complete unity when Thrashers fans connected during Hossa's goal, the second Thrashers score of the game, and it was even better chatting with the, say, two other Thrashers fans in attendance in between periods. Getting on the big screen was a loud happening and getting death-stares from 8 year-old Islanders fans was amazing. The absence of the kiss cam was a little disappointing, but the Lemon Tree promotion "Who Needs a Haircut?" (which resulted in my appearance on the big screen) was priceless. And I couldn't help but kinda gasp at the thought of paying only 6.50 for parking... who would've thought?!

After the game, and after I realized how awesome it was to be a vocal Thrashers fan in opposing territory, I immediately looked into possible road trips to Southeast rivals. I had a great time... even if the Thrashers lost the game, I think I still would've had fun yelling and getting deadly stares and being an ass... and being a part of a setting that I was a part of years ago.

This is without a doubt going to continue. Pics from Long Island to come soon and there's also gonna be an update of last night's phenomenal comeback victory over the Ottawas.